New york -urban design

1. Title: From New York to Busan: Reflecting Culture in Urban Design
Authors: Daniel Libeskind, Founder / Principal Architect, Studio Libeskind
Carla Swickerath, CEO / Principal, Studio Libeskind
Subjects: Architectural/Design
Building Case Study
Urban Design
Keywords: Human Scale
Master Planning
Urban Planning
Publication Date: 2015
Original Publication: Asia & Australasia: A Selection of Written Works on the World's Tall Building
Forefront
Paper Type: 1. Book chapter/Part chapter
2. Journal paper
3. Conference proceeding
4. Unpublished conference paper
5. Magazine article
6. Unpublished
© Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat / Daniel Libeskind; Carla Swickerath
ctbuh.org/papers

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do we build tall while enhancing the human
scale of neighborhoods and street life?
It is particularly important to re-assert
humanism in architecture by answering
today’s challenges with an optimism that
supports the development of an open and
inspired society for the future.
Contemplating future cities involves
historical reflection. Cities are mirrors of the
complex realities that went into their making.
Precisely because cities are both producers
and consumers of new ideas, they shatter
tradition and continuity through their own
progress. The city seems to have both a
historical order and at the same time be a
victim of unpredictable chaos.
Daedalus was famous for two great
achievements: he invented the labyrinth,
and constructed the wings that took his
son Icarus disastrously close to the sun.
Cities seem to oscillate between these
twin archetypes. They are either labyrinths
whose center is unreachable or they spawn
utopian fantasies.
In the modernist era, one has the perfect
Garden City of Ebenezer Howard; the
Cartesian Radiant City of le Corbusier; the
techno-mechanical Spaceship Earth of
Buckminster Fuller; the dystopian scenarios
of William Gibson and J. G. Ballard; or Steven
Hawkings’s pessimistic belief that the
human race will eventually have to relocate
to other planets in order to survive. The city
of the future is a mirage in which utopian
fantasies and advancements in technology
subvert each other to produce a new,
complex whole.
Culture and Community in Modern Cities
Great cities develop over time and become
a reflection of the dreams of its citizens.
Architecture must look to the future with
bold and innovative design that embraces
a cultural approach to development.
Celebrating creativity, community,
sustainability and diversity, will create vibrant,
meaningful and enduring places.
Architecture itself is communicative. Yet
banality can plague many contemporary
urban centers. It is the duty of the
architect to build in a way that reflects
who we are. Major metropolitan centers
are in a global competition, what made
a great city 50 years ago is no longer
relevant today. Contemporary design
can inspire breakthroughs in innovation
and architecture, shedding old notions of
planning, creating new neighborhoods
and iconic spaces for the future that will
revitalize cities around the world.
The lines must be blurred between commerce
and culture, popular and sophisticated, high
Overpopulation, climate change, aging
infrastructure: the threats facing tomorrow’s
cities are, in many ways, design problems.
The challenges of today’s world have to
be solved with creativity that supports the
development of an inspired, innovative, and
diverse society for the future. As we look
to create vibrant, global cities, the biggest
challenge is how to build tall without losing
the culture, history, and spirit of these
rapidly changing places. Designs solutions
have to embrace the values of humanism
in architecture that is forward-looking,
sustainable, and bold. Cities have to respond
to the dynamic nature of urban living, with
new patterns of planning that can adapt as
freely and quickly to the ever-changing world
to be successful, desirable, and lasting. How
From New York to Busan:
Reflecting Culture in Urban Design
Daniel Libeskind, Founder/ Principal Architect & Carla Swickerath, CEO/Principal, Studio Libeskind

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Opposite: Diagram of Ebenezer Howard’s Garden City.
(cc-by-sa) Wikimedia
Top: Buckminster Fuller’s Montreal Biosphere is a bold and
innovative design that has been preserved, and continues to be
celebrated in the city. (cc-by-sa) Idej Elixe
and low. As much as cultural institutions
need to be profitable in order to flourish,
commercial enterprises need to have a
cultural conscience in order to succeed. This
intertwining of public and private needs a
positive articulation in the city structure.
It is critical that architecture have a local
identity that creates a singular place and
unique character. If rooted in the history
of the place and the culture of its people,
architecture and urban design can create
sincere and unique human experiences,
robust economies, ecosystems, and
communities integrated into the existing
fabric of the city.
The Common City:
Architecture and Public Space
The shift has moved away from the
individual – the 21st century is about
democracy, diversity, and multiple voices.
We need our cities to give us more than
ever before.
Studies of cities seldom take into account the
ineffable and unquantifiable human desire.
Surely cities depend more on their citizens
than on their walls. Aristotle noted that a city
cannot be larger than the ability of the mayor
to know all its citizens. Today’s metropolitan
city is vulnerable in its very structure, since
democratic participation seems unable to
steer development equitably after the city
reaches a certain scale.
Future cities need to develop passionate
democratic participation in order to
create the kind of public space and
environment that allows everyone to
pursue their own dreams. This is not a
utopian ideal even at the scale of 21st
century city. The empowerment of citizens
to participate directly in the design of their
own environment is a requirement of a
meaningful future.
Fifty-four percent of the world’s population
lives in urban areas, a proportion that is
expected to increase to 66 percent by 2050
(United Nations, July 2014). Coupled with
the transformation of city centers from
nine-to-five business districts to 24-hour
neighborhoods, there is a great demand
on space. Creating both density and open
space – with streets that weave a social
fabric that binds people together – is
essential in the development of the cities.

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Designing for the Future:
Sustainable Communities
Sustainable design is about creating
buildings and public spaces that people love.
When architecture becomes a part of the
urban fabric it becomes important to the city
and the identity of a place. Designs that are
thoughtful, contextual, and innovative, and
that are built in a responsible way, are the
ones that will survive into the future.
High density living is necessary to deal with
population increase and the management of
our natural resources. Design solutions must
provide an opportunity to establish new
models for sustainable urban development
that are inspiring and community-oriented.
The future relies not only on technology and
building design, but on quality public spaces
that integrate transportation, infrastructure,
economic, social and land use decisions to
maximize sustainable development.
In Practice: Case Studies
These specific examples below explore the
core concepts above and illustrate how
culture, sustainability, and meaning can
be incorporated into the architecture and
planning of these dense urban environments.
World Trade Center Master Plan,
New York City, USA
“Daniel Libeskind’s proposal represents
a search for secure foundations in a time
when they are both literally and figuratively
crumbling. Digging deep below the surface
of the site, he uncovers what he takes to
be the bedrock, which grounds buildings
and, more important, human aspiration. Far
from a crypt, this is a place for worship and
reflection reminiscent of ancient catacombs.”
–New York Times (December 2002)
“Though all the new Ground Zero proposals in
one way or another demarcate the footprints
of the Twin Towers, Libeskind’s design is by far
the most dramatic evocation of the disaster.
It is easy to see why it struck such a resonant
chord among the victims’families.”– Martin
Filler, The New Republic (February 2003)
“I arrived by ship in New York as a teenager,
an immigrant, and like millions of others
before me, my first sight was the Statue
of Liberty and the amazing skyline of
Manhattan. I have never forgotten that sight
or what it stands for. This is what this project
is all about.”– Daniel Libeskind, Memory
Foundations (December 2002)
There were many responses to the terrorist
attacks of 9/11 – political, economic, and
developmental responses. The WTC master
plan is a cultural response: to create a
space that both commemorates the past
and moves New York forward into the next
chapter of its history.
New York is a city of optimism, and the
neighborhood had to be repaired and
reinvigorated. The challenge was surely not
just to accommodate the programmatic
requirements of square footage, office
buildings, retail, and commercial space,
but how to create a balance between
maintaining the memory of what happened
on that date, while providing a place
which would be the source of hope and
inspiration for the future. The public space
for the memorial had to be sufficient for the
millions who would come to see it, as well
as intimate enough to allow solitude and
reflection. The architecture is centered on
the prominence of the memorial, restoring
the skyline, reconnecting the urban fabric,
the city grid and creating public space.
All of these pieces – some of them can be
sensed with our eyes and ears, while others
are ineffable – yet all of the components

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Opposite: World Trade Center Master Plan – Site Plan.
Source: Studio Libeskind
Bottom: The spiral of towers around the memorial are supported
by a 70-foot under-story. Source: Studio Libeskind
continue a culture and define a human
being through memory.
From the master plan’s inception, the core
of the site, the place where people perished,
was sacred. The 9/11 Memorial had to be
its centerpiece, a space for reflection that
incorporated the chasms left by the towers’
collapse. The footprints are a physical
reminder of the enormity of the attack.
Surrounding the footprints, the waterfalls
create a soothing barrier against the city’s
clamor. The slurry wall, a dramatic element
that survived the attack, an engineering
wonder constructed on bedrock foundations
and designed to hold back the Hudson River.
The foundations withstood the unimaginable
trauma of the destruction – just as the
U.S. Constitution asserts the durability of
democracy and the value of individual
life. From the Memorial Museum, with
underground galleries that at bedrock level
reveal the slurry wall to Tower 1 with its 1776-
foot pinnacle at Ground Zero reaffirms New
Yorkers’democratic spirit, intrinsic optimism,
and determination to embrace the future.
The master plan developed organically, as it
should, incorporating the ideas, talents, and
voices of many; families of victims, citizens,
security experts, officials, builders, and
architects collectively creating a new Lower
Manhattan, one which takes its cue from the
human scale and its aspirations.
The 10 million square feet of commercial
office space on the site is broken down into
five commercial office towers, compatible
with NewYork’s urban fabric. The towers
“Design solutions must provide an opportunity to establish new models for sustainable
urban development that are inspiring and community-oriented. The future relies not
only on technology and building design, but on quality public spaces that integrate
transportation, infrastructure, economic, social and land use decisions to maximize
sustainable development.“

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Opposite Top: Rendering of the World Trade Center site in
relation to the Statue of Liberty. Source: Studio Libeskind
Opposite Bottom: Rendering of the envisaged World Trade
Center site as of 2015. Source: Silverstein Properties
Right: World Trade Center Master Plan – Sketch.
Source: Daniel Libeskind
are organized in a three-dimensional spiral
culminating with WTC 1, which is the tallest
tower on the western edge of the site.
Urbanistically, their orientation emphasizes
the centrality of the memorial space with
Tower 1 marking the location of the slurry wall
vertically on the horizon. More significant than
a particular massing of any of the towers is the
overall composition of the set of five and their
relationship to one another.
In the end, half of the 16-acre site is devoted
to public space, defined by the memorial and
the Memorial Museum, while also setting
aside locations for sustainable, state-of-the-
art office towers, re-connecting the historic
street-grid, reinvigorating the streetscape
with above-ground retail areas, and reshaping
the underground transit concourses. There is
even room for two major new public facilities:
an iconic new transportation station and a
performing arts center.
An essential part of any development
project, the master plan serves as both its
conceptual basis and its technical foundation.
The plan defines the spirit of the approach
and organizes the site’s various elements,
emphasizing the human experience and the
public realm throughout. The plan determines
each building’s size, height and location;
the structures’proximity and relationship
to one another; the site’s infrastructure,
transportation, sustainability standards
and security strategy; and the relationship
between the site and the surrounding areas.
As the master plan envisioned, the World
Trade Center site has become a mixed-use

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geometry of the buildings allude to their
context; the grace and force of ocean waves,
the unique composition of the petals of a
flower, wind-filled sails of ships on the water
are inspired by the subtle, elegant curves in
traditional Korean architecture. The forms
of the composition, read against the city of
Busan, create an iconic three-dimensional
waterfront development.
The main challenge of the project was
to create a balanced composition with
maximum views and livability with a large
program on a very dense site. The design
had to meet rigorous efficiency expectations
and moderate construction costs while
maximizing sweeping views of the ocean, the
marina, the mountains, the Gwang-An bridge
and the landscape and the city of Busan.
To find innovative solutions, multiple
strategies for the massing of the program
on the site were studied. Instead of simply
extruding the typical building footprints to
their maximum heights, the footprints of
the towers are made of a sculpted shape in
plan, the heights are varied and the profiles
are tapered to create a three-dimensional
composition on the horizon. The varying
heights of the buildings help to break
down the overall massing of the residential
tower complex. Instead of simply extruding
the footprints of the buildings to an equal
height, the design redistributes the allowed
massing and height of the towers to create
variation in the composition of the towers
while meeting the maximum floor area ratio
(FAR) for the development.
These strategies not only give the project and
the city of Busan a new landmark and a new
image of residential development, which in
Korea is traditionally quite formulaic, they also
help maximize the view corridors of all the
apartments and bring the most light possible
into the site and the developments beyond
the site. Redistributing the massing makes the
very large development seem more slender
on the skyline. Also, the varied forms create
unique and exciting spaces between the
buildings that add interest and variety to the
entire development from inside and out.
A fundamental principle of the design of
the Haeundae Udong Hyundai I’Park was to
create a community. In Korea, large-scale,
urban residential projects are popular for
many reasons. These include premium
area fully integrated into the vibrancy and
activity of the surrounding neighborhoods.
Haeundae Udong Hyundai I’Park, Busan,
South Korea
“Neither frothily hip nor elegantly staid,
this new hotel embraces luxury with
understated 21st-century chic, and
fascinating visual riffs on an earlier
epoch.”– Globe and Mail (July 2013)
On the waterfront of the southern city
of Busan, the largest city in South Korea
after Seoul, Haeundae Udong includes the
tallest residential tower in Asia. The mixed-
use project also encompasses two other
residential towers, a 34-floor high-rise hotel,
an office building, and a three-floor retail
building with residential units – altogether a
4.5 million-square-foot development.
The project is designed as a unique
composition expressed in a series of
dynamic volumes on the Busan waterfront
that harmonize with the landscape and
celebrate the city’s spectacular setting of
mountains, rivers, and the sea. The buildings
are sculpted to reflect the dramatic beauty
and power of the ocean. The curvilinear

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Opposite: Overall view of Haeundae Udong HyundaiI I’Park.
Source: Hyundai Development Company
Right: Site Mass Diagram of Haeundae Udong HyundaiI I’Park.
Source: Studio Libeskind
Bottom: Site Plan of Haeundae Udong HyundaiI I’Park.
Source: Studio Libeskind

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amenities, maintenance, and security but,
most significantly, there is a strong cultural
emphasis on family and social relationships
in Korea, thus the high-density residential
developments are preferred because they
support a strong sense of community.
The distinct image of the project gives
the residents a clear sense of identity and
the project’s varied public spaces give
the community places to gather. From
its inception, the design of the project
was considered a complex – a collection
of buildings with uses centered on the
community – rather than individual towers
in a block. This also influenced the amenities
oriented toward multi-generational families,
community services, and the layout and
circulation of the entire development.
Taking advantage of the crescent-shaped
site, the three residential towers are
lined along the edge of the curve. This
composition maximizes the waterfront
views and allows for the most space from
the adjacent residential complexes. The
placement of the towers taking advantage
of the shape of the site also allows for a
generous park to be developed, inviting
residents and visitors to enjoy a unique
outdoor experience that will provide an
open space for the residents as well as the
visitors to the site and to the city of Busan.
The central landscaped park provides a
communal space at the heart of the project
for residents to relax, gather, celebrate, play,
and reflect upon the ocean views, and
includes spaces for group actives and cultural
events. The park is a special amenity to the
residents of the development, and it provides
the dense city of Busan with a special public
park along the dramatic ocean front.
CityLife, Milan, Italy
For more than a decade, the 61-acre site
that formerly housed the Fiera Milano –
Milan’s historic international fairgrounds –
lay abandoned.
The CityLife master plan reconnects
the existing city fabric –with a new
neighborhood situated along a 23-acre
central park, a metro station, and a new
public piazza – within a gleaming skyline
composed of three iconic towers by
Studio Libeskind, Zaha Hadid Architects,
and Arata Isozaki & Associates. The master
plan is composed of a series of distinct
neighborhoods, each one placed within
the park, and each proposing a variety of
different scales and uses from residential,
recreation, office space, retail and cultural.
The station is slated for completion in
2016, the first housing parcels have been
completed by Studio Libeskind and Zaha
Hadid Architects, and the towers and phase
two of the residences are all underway.
The centrally located site provided a unique
opportunity to develop a significant part
of an historic city. This site historically
exhibited the best of Milan and Italy,
holding the aspirations and pride of all
Milanese, representing the greatness
of Italian design, furniture, fashion,
technology. The master plan had to create
a contemporary development, sensitively
woven into the historic fabric.
The plan offers an innovative approach to
large-scale urban design within a dense city.
The main concept is simple and bold. The
site is broken into neighborhoods, which
are defined as distinct forms that together
create a composition in the landscape.
Although they are distinct and human-
scaled, together these neighborhoods
create a diverse, active, and vibrant city

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Opposite: View of Haeundae Udong HyundaiI I’Park in its urban
context. Source: Hyundai Development Company
Bottom: Site Plan of Milan’s CityLife Masterplan.
Source: Studio Libeskind
“The site is broken into neighborhoods, which are defined as distinct forms that together
create a composition in the landscape. Although they are distinct and human-scaled,
together these neighborhoods create a diverse, active, and vibrant city life.“

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life. The design breaks down the overall
density and mass of the large urban
development to create a pedestrian scale
that is at once exciting and livable. The rest
of the site is developed into a generous,
active public realm, animated with a large
urban park connecting the neighborhoods
together. The plan creates a contemporary
development sensitively woven into an
historic fabric.
The design of the first residential parcel
reflects the changing composition of an
historic Milanese neighborhood. Using
a classical courtyard configuration and
naturalistic materials the design remains
faithful to the character of the surrounding
area, while the asymmetrical layering
of the façade signals a contemporary
transformation of this language.
The residences, ranging from villas to
apartment blocks, are carefully sited on
the perimeter of the site at a scale that
resonates within the existing context. The
rooftops slowly rise from the south east
along with low-rise seven-story buildings
that climb northwest to a 14-story height.
This flexible arrangement not only
Left: Milan’s CityLife Master Plan - Aerial View.
Source: Hayes Davidson
Bottom: The Central Tower at CityLife. Source: Hayes Davidson
Opposite: CityLife residences. Source: Michele Nastasi

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maximizes daylight, fresh air, and views
of green space, but also gives each unit a
distinct character from one to the next.
In order to provide a culturally diverse,
vibrant mixed-use development, the
organization of the scheme integrates
essential cultural buildings and retail
amenities including prominent retail stores
and public performance facilities. These
public amenities act as a buffer to the
large-scale remaining Fiera buildings to
the north while integrating the public park
at its center and housing units to the east,
west and southern edges. A central part of
this urban scheme is the restoration and
reconstruction of the historical Palazzo
della Sport into a unique retail destination.
The Palazzo will once again become a
functioning amenity for the community,
reviving history with contemporary life.
At the middle of the new central park are
three iconic commercial high-rise buildings
that are concentrated in order to maximize
space for a large public park, a grand piazza,
as well as intimate public and private spaces.
The skyscrapers are sculpted and highly
visible skyline on the site. Each building has
an individual expression, yet all three create
a singular composition to define the public
piazza. At the base of each tower, there are
retail and public amenities that help dissolve
the boundary between the public and
private commercial realm. The towers have
been carefully positioned in order to provide
appropriate shade, maximum light, and a
positive pedestrian experience.
The master plan allows for maximum
freedom of development in the future. It
was designed for growth as well as changing
market demands to allow for its economic
success and sustainability well into the future.
Its ability to change over time and re-invent
itself as the development evolves has ensured
the success of the master plan, which is about
fifty percent complete today. The diverse
expression of the site mirrors the richness of
Milan’s history and organic growth.
Final Thoughts
As we see the rapid growth of the world’s
urban centers, we have to abandon
outdated ideas of planning and building;
the old models no longer apply. We must
look to a comprehensive approach that
incorporates the values of culture at all
levels, inclusive architecture where citizens
can participate in the shaping of the future.
We must create architecture that meets
clients’needs while giving open, public
space back to the people who live and work
in the area, enabling a symbiotic relationship
between the public and private spheres
within the urban realm. Our buildings should
be high-density and dynamic in structure,
while remaining grounded within their
context and responsive to the human scale.
We must build sustainably by combining the
latest technologies with traditional means
and by creating buildings that matter. We
must also remember that the key to a truly
sustainable city is the democratic inclusion of
its inhabitants.
To move forward, we must abandon the myth
of the labyrinth and resist the wings of flight.
The cities of tomorrow will embrace history
without being stifled by it; they will radically
innovate from the center moving up, and
not out; and they will serve the communities
through the voices of many, creating spatially
and intellectually rich environments that
mirror the aspirations of their inhabitants.